1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to interactive data access networked (e.g., Internet and/or Intranet) systems. More particularly, this invention relates to a diagnostic system for a distributed data access networked system having a number of independently administrated data service subsystems.
2. Description of the Related Art
The rapid growth of the Internet, widespread use of the World Wide Web, and a trend toward deployment of broadband residential networks have led to the development of new services such as interactive shopping, home banking, and electronic commerce. These services are federated since the Internet access networked system these services depend on spans over multiple independently administrated control domains.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art Internet or Intranet access networked system 10. As can be seen from FIG. 1, the access networked system 10 typically includes a data service system 13 which is typically an Internet/Intranet service system (ISS). The data access networked system 10 also includes remote Internet and Intranet systems 14-15 connected to the ISS 13 via an interconnect network 16. Each of the systems 13-15 is an independently administrated system and the system administrator of one such system does not know the structure and configuration of another system.
The ISS 13 provides Internet or Intranet service to its subscriber sites (e.g., site 11) via an interconnect network 12. Subscribers connect directly to the ISS 13 from their terminals (e.g., personal computers, Macintoshes, Web terminals, etc.) via the interconnect network 12.
The ISS 13 typically includes content servers that store data for access from the subscriber sites. The content servers typically support servers for Internet applications, such as electronic mail, bulletin boards, news groups, and World Wide Web access. In addition, the ISS 13 may have web proxy servers that allow a network administrator to restrict access to the remote Internet systems 14 or remote Intranet systems 15. Another use of the proxy servers is to cache frequently accessed data from the Internet. The ISS 13 may also include address assignment servers. The address assignment servers assign an address to a user terminal when it is first connected to the ISS 13. The assigned address uniquely identifies the terminal in the ISS 13.
Subscribers in the ISS 13 usually refer to servers in the ISS 13, in the remote Internet systems 14, and in the remote Intranet systems 15, by their host names. However, routing of packets to and from the servers is based on network addresses assigned to the servers rather than the host names. In the ISS 13, Domain name servers (DNS) are used to translate subscriber references to host names into network addresses of the servers. The DNS may themselves rely on other DNS servers in the remote Internet systems 14 and the remote Intranet systems 15 to determine the host name to network address mappings.
Other components or modules that are typical of the ISS 13 are a firewall that controls access to and from the system 13, and a router or routers for routing transmissions to and from subscribers, and to and from the remote Internet systems 14 and the remote Intranet systems 15.
The ISS 13 typically employs the Internet Protocol (IP) for data communication to and from various servers, as well as with the remote systems 14 and 15. The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) operates above the IP layer and ensures reliable delivery of information to the content servers in the systems 13-15. The application protocols that operate above the TCP layer are specific to the applications being accessed by subscribers. For example, the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is used for file transfers and the Hyper Text Transport Protocol (HTTP) is used for web accesses.
Each of the remote Internet systems 14 or each of the remote Intranet systems 15 typically includes the same or similar servers and modules as those described above for the ISS 13.
Managing and maintaining such a distributed networked system, however, is typically very difficult. Because each data service system is independently administrated, the entire networked system spans multiple independently administrated control domains. In this case, only a portion of the networked system can be observed and controlled by anyone given authority (e.g., a system administrator of one Internet service system). The system administrator of one control domain is not able to access another control domain to detect problems in that control domain. In order for the entire networked system to be checked for problems, the system administrator of one control domain has to contact the system administrator of all other control domains to check their systems. Likewise, when the networked system includes a customer support representative to provide customer support services for the networked system, the representative must contact the system administrators of all the control domains of the networked system in order to check the entire networked system. This thus makes it difficult to manage the federated services provided by the access networked system and to provide effective customer support of these services.